This competition may be tougher than most players on ASU have experienced, but McInerney said her players aren’t treating Pepperdine differently.

“Tennis is tennis,” she said. “They’ve played ranked kids all through their juniors.”

With five ranked players, finding effective doubles pairings was made easier for Pepperdine coach Adam Steinberg. Two of the Waves’ pairings are ranked.

The No. 39 pair consists of Guillermo and Granillo, and one spot below them sits Capannolo and Chiang.

ASU juniors Leighann Sahagun and Joanna Smith, who have recently been the No. 1 seed on the ASU doubles teams, will have their hands full with whoever they play.

McInerney acknowledged that though the duo played well against No. 15 Northwestern University, they have struggled in recent matches.

McInerney said Sahagun and Smith might switch sides on the court to attempt to overcome recent struggles.

McInerney also said that because Krawczyk has been limited in practice, she will probably remain with freshman Kassidy Jump in doubles this week. Vlad and sophomore Ebony Panoho have played together often and will likely play together in California as well.

Despite the well-documented play of many Pepperdine athletes, ASU is ranked above them in the team rankings.

McInerney said this is due to Pepperdine’s injury-riddled performance last season. She compared its current team to Northwestern and Notre Dame.

“They’re a step ahead of some of the other teams that we’ve played so far, and so we’re going to have to be really prepared,” she said.